Computing mechanism for counters



1967 1.. J. SUNDBLOM COMPUTING MECHANISM FOR COUNTERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 1'7, 1967 EGEERJZTE INPUT GALLONAGE INDICATOR INDICATOR F I'G....2

INVENTOR. LEIF J. SUNDBLOM ATTORNEYS INPUT DRIVE 1967 L. J. SUND Bt-OM 3,

COMPUTING MECHANISM FOR COUNTERS Filed Feb. 17, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 wmwok LEIF J. SUNDBLOM W mz/V W ATTORNEYS Nov. 28, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 17, 1967 INVENTOR.

l l j LEIF J. SUNDBLOM W Mar 2/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice Patented Nov. 28, 1967 ABSTRACT GF THE DISCLOSURE Computing means are provided which produce an output rotation corresponding to an input rotation times a three-digit variable factor, the three digits being separately settable from to 9, and the elements of the variable factor being combined in a pair of planetary gearing systems. Only two gear stacks are used for the analog reproduction of the three-digits factor. An arrangement of gearing is provided whereby the computing mechanism may be fed an input from either of several distinct points in its gear train, so as to permit stacking of several mechanisms on top of one another for separate indications.

Background of the invention This invention relates to computer mechanisms, and more particularly to mechanisms which permit the computation of a price from a quantity input, with three price-per-unit digits each variable from 0 to 9, yet which requires only two gear stacks for the setting of all three price variables. The physical arrangement of the mechanism is such that several independent sets of mechanisms can be stacked on top of one another without interference.

The present case discloses an improvement over the computing mechanism shown in the copending application Ser. No. 412,974, filed Nov. 23, 1964, now Patent No. 3,317,129, entitled Computing Counter," assigned to the assignee of this invention. In that case, the price computation was accomplished in a somewhat similar manner, but the computation was accomplished by subtracting a range determined by a gear stack with considerably more than ten gears from a range determined by a gear stack with ten gears. The net result was a price adjustability within a limited total range.

Summary 07 the invention In the field of metering pumps for service stations, however, it is necessary to provide an adjustability of the mechanism over the entire three-digit range from 00.0 to 99.9 cents per gallon, and it is further necessary to provide for the individual setting of each digit of the price. The present invention accomplishes this result by using only two gear stacks instead of three, i.e., by combining the functions of the cents stack and the tenths-ofa-cent stack in a single unit.

Another problem in gasoline pumps is that pumps might require the stacking on top of one another of two different computing mechanisms, one for regular gasoline and the other for high octane gasoline. This being the case, it is essential that the mechanism be such that the computer input drive from the regular gasoline meter can be brought through one of the computing mechanisms and be physically separated from the input drive from the high octane gasoline meter without necessitating any difference in construction between the two computing mechanisms.

It is an object of the invention to provide a computing mechanism which is capable of computing a total price based on a price-per-unit quantity setting variable through 1000 equal increments, by utilizing only two gear stacks of not more than eleven gears.

It is another object of the invention to provide a mechanism of the type described which can be stacked on top of another like mechanism, and in which the input drive motion can be applied at a plurality of distinct points in the gear train without modification of the mechanism.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gasoline pump equipped with a pair of stacked computing devices in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the computing mechanism of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial front elevation of the mechanism of this invention; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 3.

Description of the preferred embodiment In FIG. 1, a gasoline pump using the mechanism of this invention is generally shown at 10. The pump 10 consists of a pumping and metering section 12 containing two separate pumps and two separate metering devices; and of a pair of computing and indicating sections 14, 16, one of which cooperates with each of the two pumps and meters contained in the section 12. Each of the computing and indicating sections 14, 16 has a price indicator 18 and a gallonage indicator 20.

In FIG. 2, the input drive to the computing mechanism is provided by one of the meters in section 12 and is shown schematically at 22 in FIG. 2. The two computing mechanisms 14 and 16 are identical except that, for reasons hereafter described, the input drive of the section 14 would be element 22, whereas the input drive of the section 16 would be the alternate input drive indicated as 24 in FIG. 2.

In the flow diagram of FIG. 2, gears which rotate in a clockwise direction as seen from the right have been indicated by arrows pointing up and gears which rotate in the counterclockwise direction as seen from the right have been indicated by arrows pointing down.

The motion of the input drive 22, which in standard metering devices rotates at the rate of 4 revolutions per gallon, is transmitted in a 1:1 ratio through bevel gears 26, 28 to the shaft 30 on which the gear stack 32 is mounted. The gear stack 32 contains ten gears corresponding, respectively, the 0 position (smallest gear) through the 9 position (largest gear) of the tens-of-cents setting of the price-adjusting mechanism. The operation of the price-setting mechanism itself is described in detail in my copending application Ser. No. 616,948, filed Feb. 17, 1967, and entitled Price-Setting Mechanism for Comput in g Counters, and will not be described herein.

The rotation of the selected one of the gears of gear stack 32 is picked off by a pick-01f gear 34. The motion of the pick-off gear is transmitted through an idler gear 36 to the tens-of-cents output gear 38, whose motion is in turn transmitted through gears 40 and 42 and shaft 44 to the input sun gear 46 of the planetary system 48.

The rotation of shaft 30 is transmitted through gears 50 and 52 to gear 54, which in turn drives the shaft 56 on which the second gear stack 58 is mounted. The gear stack 58 has eleven gears. The cents pick-oft gear 60 is engageable with all but the smallest of these gears, whereas the tenths-of-a-cent pick-off gear 62 is engageable with all but the largest of these gears. The motion of pick-off gear 60 is transferred to the cents output gear 63 which is keyed to shaft 64. Shaft 64 in turn drives the cage 66 of the planetary system 48.

The motion of tenths-of-a-cent pick-off gear 62 is transmitted through tenths-of-a-cent output gear 65 and a reduction gearing consisting of gears 67, 68, 70, 72, 74 and 76 to shaft 78 which drives the cage 80 of the planetary system 62.

The output sun gear 84 of the planetary system 43 is coupled in a 1:1 ratio to the input sun gear 86 of system 82. The output sun gear 88 of the planetary system 82 is coupled in a 1:1 ratio through gears 90, 92 and 94 to the price indicator 96.

r In addition, the motion of gear 54 is transmitted through gears 98, 100, 5102 and 104 to the alternate input drive 24. The ratios between gear 26 and gear 104 through the system described are such that the same identical functioning of the mechanism will result whether'the drive power is applied at 22 or at 24.

The rotation of gear 98 is transmitted through shaft 106 to gear 108 and then through gears 110, 112 and 114 to the gallonage counter 116. The ratios between either one of the input drives 22, 24 and the gear 114 is such that gear 114 will make one revolution for every 4 revolutions of the input drive 22 or 24. Consequently, the gallonage counter 116 will be driven at the rate of 1 r.p.g.

The price computation as performed by the mechanism described herein is illustrated with the aid of the following charts showing the number of teeth of the gears in stacks 32 and 58. All three of the pick-off gears 34, 60 and 62 have twenty teeth.

Gear Stack 32 Gear Stack 58 No. of No. on 10 No. on 193 No. of No. on 1/10 Teeth Selee. Dial Selec. Dial Teeth Selec. Dial Assuming that the price setting is 32.9 cents per gallon, the net result of the operation of the mechanism has to be that the gear 94 driving the price indicator 96 has to make 3.29 revolutions for each 4 revolutions of the input drive 22. This is accomplished in the following manner: the ratio between bevel gears 26 and 28 being 1:1, shaft 30 turns at 4 r.p.g. Assuming now that pick-off gear 34 is in the 3 position, pick-off gear 34 will turn at 4 32/ 20 or 6.4 r.p.g. Gears 36, 38, 40 and 42 are so selected that the ratio between pick-off gear 34 and input sun gear 46 of the planetary system 48 is 1:1. Consequently, the input sun gear 46 also turns at 6.4 r.p.g.

The 4 r.p.g. rotation of shaft 30 is transmitted through gears 50, 52 and 54 in a 4:1 reduction, so that shaft 56 of the gear stack 58 revolves at 1 r.p.g. Assuming now that the cents pick-oft" wheel 60 is in the 2 position, the chart above shows that gear 60 will revolve at 29/20 or 1.45 r.p.g. The motion of pick-off gear 60 is transmitted in a 1:1 ratio to the cage 66 of the planetary system 48. The output rotation of the planetary system can be described by the equation in which 0 is the output sun gear rotation, i is the input sun gear rotation, and c is the cage rotation. The signs are indicative of the direction of rotation, clockwise rotation being positive rotation, and counterclockwise rotation being negative rotation. Consequently, since shafts 44 and 64 both rotate in a clockwise direction, it follows that the output sun gear 84 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction at a velocity of 6.42.9, or 3.5 r.p.g.

On the upper side of gear stack 58, tenths-of-acent pick-01f gear 62 has been assumed to be in the 9 position. With shaft 56 rotating at 1 r.p.g., piclcoff gear 62 therefore rotates at 21/20 or 1/05 r.p.g. The gearing consisting of gears 64, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74 and 76 is such as to produce a reduction of 10:1 between pick-off gear 62 and shaft 78. Consequently, shaft 78 rotates at a velocity of 0.105 r.p.g.

In the planetary system 82, the input sun gear 86 which is directly coupled to output gear 84 of planetary system 48 rotates in a clockwise direction at 3.5 r.p.g. With shaft 78 also rotating in a clockwise direction at 0.105 r.p.g., output sun gear 88 of planetary system 62 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction at 3.50.21, or 3.29 r.p.g. This rotation is transmitted without change through gears 90, 92 and 94 to the price indicator 96.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the preferred physical structure of the computing mechanism of the invention. The two pumps and metering devices in the section 12 of FIG. 1 are preferably positioned side by side so that their output shafts (which are the input drives 22 or 24 of FIG. 2), are positioned one on each side of the structure. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the input drive 22 comes up and terminates immediately below shaft 30 and drives shaft 30 through bevel gears 26, 28. On the other hand, input drive 24 goes through section 14 without touching anything, and terminates in bevel gear 104 which engages bevel gear 102 of section 16 positioned above section 14. It will be noted that the shaft of bevel gear 102 in section 14 is short and does not interfere with the vertical positioning of shaft 24. Consequently, it will be seen that although sections 14 and 16 are mechanically absolutely identical, section 14 is driven from bevel gear 28, whereas section is driven from bevel gear 102. As has been previously explained, the gear relationship is such that the mechanism can be driven at either input Without difference in its operation.

It will be seen that the present invention provides a simple and effective computing mechanism for counters which lends itself to easy stacking without the necessity of changing the internal structure of the computing mechanism. Obviously, the teachings of the invention can be carried out in various ways, of which the embodiment described herein is merely illustrative. Therefore, I do not desire to be limited by the embodiment shown and described, but only by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A computing mechanism for counters, comprising:

(a) a source of input motion;

(b) first gear stack means driven by said input motion;

(c) second gear stack means driven at a predetermined fraction of the velocity of said input motion;

(d) first pick-off gear means cooperating with said first stack means to provide a high-order output;

(e) second pick-off gear means cooperating with said second stack means to provide an intermediate-order output;

(f) third pick-off gear means cooperating with said second stack means to provide a low-order output;

(g) first combining means for mechanically subtracting said intermediate-order output from said highorder output;

(11) second combining means for mechanically subtracting said low-order output from the output of said first combining means; and

(i) means for registering the output of said second combining means.

2. A stackable computing mechanism for counters,

comprising:

(a) a generally elongated frame;

(b) vertical input shaft means protruding into said frame a predetermined distance inwardly of one end thereof, and providing a source of input motion;

(c) variable price computing means including first and second gear stack means;

((1) said first gear stack means being positioned inwardly of said end and being driven substantially directly by said input motion;

(e) said second gear stack means being positioned generally centrally of said frame;

(f) first gear reduction means connecting the shafts of said first and second gear stack means and arranged to turn said second gear stack means at a predetermined fraction of the velocity of said first gear stack means;

(g) idler shaft means positioned substantially said predetermined distance inwardly of the other end of said frame and adapted to be driven substantially directly by a source of input motion;

(h) gear multiplication means connected between said second gear stack and said idler shaft means to drive said idler shaft means at the same velocity as said first gear stack;

(i) indicating means;

(j) second gear reduction means connected between said idler shaft means and said indicating means for driving said indicating means at substantially said predetermined fraction of the velocity of said first gear stack means;

whereby said input motion can be selectively applied either to said first gear stack or to said idler shaft.

3. The device of claim 2, in which said frame is so arranged as to permit unobstructed passage therethrough of a vertical input shaft at least adjacent to said idler shaft.

References Cited 20 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A COMPUTING MECHANISM FOR COUNTERS, COMPRISING: (A) A SOURCE OF INPUT MOTION; (B) FIRST GEAR STACK MEANS DRIVEN BY SAID INPUT MOTION; (C) SECOND GEAR STACK MEANS DRIVEN AT A PREDETERMINED FRACTION OF THE VELOCITY OF SAID INPUT MOTION; (D) FIRST PICK-OFF GEAR MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID FIRST STACK MEANS TO PROVIDE A HIGH-ORDER OUTPUT; (E) SEOND PICK-OFF GEAR MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID SECOND STACK MEANS TO PROVIDE AN INTERMEDIATE-ORDER OUTPUT; (F) THIRD PICK-OFF GEAR MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID SECOND STACK MEANS TO PROVIDE A LOW-ORDER OUTPUT; (G) FIRST COMBINING MEANS FOR MECHANICALLY SUBTRACTING SAID INTERMEDIATE-ORDER OUTPUT FROM SAID HIGHORDER OUTPUT; (H) SECOND COMBINING MEANS FOR MECHANICALLY SUBTRACTING SAID LOW-ORDER OUTPUT FROM THE OUTPUT OF SAID FIRST COMBINING MEANS; AND (I) MEANS FOR REGISTERING THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND COMBINING MEANS. 